InthispaperNealMcCormick,BetBuddyTechnicalArchitect,shareshisthoughtsonthedata

miningapproachesandtechnologiesthatleadingonlineoperatorsareusingtokeeptheir
competitiveedge.Nealtellsusaboutsomeofthemetricsthatyouandyourcompetitorsshould
betrackingandhowonlineoperatorsaredevelopingarchitecturesandcapabilitiesthatare
enablingthemtomakebetteruseoftheirgreatestandevergrowingcorporateasset;data.
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BetBuddyisaresponsiblegamingdataanalyticssolutionfortheonlinegamingindustry.
TheBetBuddyResponsibleGamingAssistantgiveslotteriesandoperatorstheabilityto
providemarketleadingfunctionalityandhelpsdeliverastateoftheartresponsiblegaming
experience.Itisasourceofdifferentiationthatcangenerategreaterbrandloyaltyandtrust
withplayers.
Speed,scaleandsimplicity
Youwillfindamultitudeofdefinitionsofwhat
dataminingis.Tomanyithasandremainsa
blackboxorartformthatistoodifficulttograsp.
Gartnerdescribeitastheprocessofdiscovering
meaningfulnewcorrelations,patternsand
trendsbysiftingthroughlargeamountsofdata
storedinrepositories,usingpatternrecognition
technologiesaswellasstatisticaland
mathematicaltechniques.IquitelikeMITs
takeonDarrylPregibons definition,whichis
Statisticsatspeedandscale...andsimplicity.
Practicallyitsaboutadaptingwellknown
mathematicalandstatisticaltechniquesto
moderndaydatasets,andtypicallyleverages
techniquessuchasregressionandcluster
analysisandneuralnetworks.Thesetechniques
arehelpingoperatorsmoveawayfromfocusing
onproductstounderstandingcustomerneeds
andwants.
Somemetricsyoushouldtrack
Whilstitisnowahygienefactorforoperatorsto
calculatesimplecustomermetricssuchaschurn
andaveragecustomerlifetimeaspartoftheir
businessasusualcustomerretentionprocesses,
leadingoperatorsareincreasinglylookingto
moresophisticatedmetricssuchasplayvolatility
tohelpunlockplayervalue.Trackingsuch
metricsnotonlyallowsoperatorstoofferplayers
stateoftheartfeedbackfromaresponsible
gamingperspectivebutcanalsohelpreduce
churnduringkeyphasesofthecustomer
lifecycle,suchasintheinitialmonthafter
customeracquisitionwhenoperatorstypically
losenewplayers.Thecustomerretention
challengecontinuesafterthefirstmonthtoo,as
whilstonaverage35%ofplayersremainwith
theiroperatorafter3months,thistypically
reducesto15%after12months.Tracking
volatilityacrossbetsizeandfrequencyandother
riskfactorsprovideskeyinsightsintopredicting
futureplayerbehaviourthatnotonlyhelps
promoteresponsiblegamingpracticesbutcan
alsoreduceplayerchurn.
Handlingbigdatasets
AccordingtoTDWIResearch,34%of
corporationswillhavemorethan10terabytesof
datawithintheirdatawarehousesby2012.For
theonlinegamingindustry,dataisthelifeblood
ofthecustomerrelationship.Itisarguablya
firmsgreatestcorporateassetastheycannot
remaincompetitiveunlesstheycaneffectively
analyse,mineandleverageplayerdata.Leading
operatorsknowthisandhavemovedbeyond
traditionalreportingandanalysisapproachesto
offeringrealtimeplayermonitoringand
predictiveanalysisusingadvanceddatamining
techniques.
Typically,amediumsizedoperatorishavingto
storeupto6GBofcoreplayerdatapermonth
ForfurtherinformationNealMcCormick
atneal@betbuddy.com
offlineanalysis,suchasSASandSPSS.Leading
edgecompaniessuchasAsterDataarere
thinkingthisapproachbydevelopingtechnology
thatsupportsindatabaseanalyticstechniques
duringtheexploreandscorestagesofanalysisto
reduceprocessingtimeandsteps.Thisis
enablingrealtimeexecutionandanalysisand
moreimportantlyembedsanalyticscapabilities
andartefactswithinthearchitectureofthe
operator.
Conclusion
Operatorswhoarelookingtostepuptheirin
houseanalyticscapabilitiesneedtotakea
dynamicbutprogressiveapproachtodeveloping
theircapabilities.Whistittookcompaniesmany
yearstorealisetheROIontheirtechnology
investmentsinERPandBIduringthe90s,the
explosionofpowerful,scalableandaffordable
technologiesinthelasttenyearsmeansonline
companiesmustembracetechnicalchange
quicklyandinnovativelytoremaincompetitive.
Fromaresponsiblegamingperspective,wesee
theoperatorofthefutureleveragingadvanced
analyticstoofferplayersgreaterinsightinto
theirgameplayacrossarangeofplayerrisk
factorstoenablethemmakebetterinformed
choicesthatkeepstheirgameplayhealthierand
moreenjoyable.
pergamingcategory.Offeringadvanced
responsiblegamingfeaturesrequiresoperators
tohavethecapabilitytoanalysemillionsof
playerdatapointsacrossmultiplegaming
categories.Thereforetransitioningfrom
traditionalanalyticstomoreadvanced
approachesputstremendouschallengeson
buildingscalablearchitecturesthatcansupport
suchprocessing.
However,asthetotalcostofownershipper
terabytecannowcostaslittle$10,000,weare
witnessingcompaniesimplementing
architecturesthatleveragemassivelyparallel
processing(MPP)databasesanddistributed
architecturesusingMapReduce toenable
advancedanalyticswithintheirorganisations.If
youhaveaspirationsofofferingrealtime
analyticssolutionstoyourplayersthatgo
beyond95%availability,thenachievinga
competitivetotalcostofownershipwillnotbe
possibleunlessyoumovebeyondtraditional
architecturalapproaches.
Embeddingcapabilitieswithinyourarchitecture
Theperceivedcomplexityoflargescaledata
miningispushingmanyoperatorstooutsource
theiranalyticstothirdpartiestocompensatefor
alackofinhousecapabilities.Whilstthe
outsourcingmodelhasitsmerits,applyingittoa
companyscorecompetency(i.e.dataanalytics
inthecaseofanonlineoperator),isa
questionablestrategyatbest.Thisapproachis
alsoexpensiveandslow,withconsultancies
typicallychargingupto$150perhourto
produceofflineplayeranalyticsreportswhich
canbecomeoutofdatebythetimeyourecieve
them.Themoreadvancedoperatorsunderstand
thatdevelopinginhouseanalyticscapabilities
willbecriticaliftheyaretoremaincompetitive.
Theseoperatorstypicallyusetraditional
approachestoanalytics,whichinvolve
downloadingdatafromthebackofficeplayer
accountmanagementsystemsanduploading
thisintospecialisedsoftwaretoundertake
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ForfurtherinformationNealMcCormick
atneal@betbuddy.com
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